


Pas de Deux

by CharnaBelle



Category: The Invisible Library - Genevieve Cogman
Genre: Ballet, Dancing, Drinking, F/M, Fluff, friends - Freeform, shots, song used
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-05
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2019-04-18 22:32:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14223213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharnaBelle/pseuds/CharnaBelle
Summary: Irene loves to dance and whilst stuck in the Library after dealing with Alberich, she tries to get in some practise. Kai stumbles across her and asks her to teach him.Regret is briefly mentioned.Song mentioned is Pas de Deux by Dodie Clarke





	Pas de Deux

 

_ Are you walking on eggshells _

_ And when push comes to shove _

_ Are you full of belonging _

_ But not full of love _

 

 

 

Tying her hair back, she crossed the room, to where a wooden barre spanned a wall in front of a mirror. She gently placed her hand atop of it, and went through the motions of warming up. Pliès warmed her ankles and knees up. Something clicked, but she ignored it. Her joints were just complacent, it had been far too long. She could just imagine what her old teachers would have said. A simple arabesque warmed up her arms and back. And then she turned the music on.

 

A slow waltz filled the room and she counted the beats in her head. Her back hurt, the tension in her muscles reminded her of the aches that she had felt while training. Holding herself in perfect poise on demi-pointe until her teacher allowed her to put her heels down again. Arms in a perfect demi-bra, her back stiff and straight. 

 

She moved to stand in the centre of the room, walking and making sure that her toes reached a perfect point with each step, feeling the stretch in the arch of her feet. She stopped, dead centre, she could see herself in the mirror. Good, if she could see herself she could watch her form. She stood in classical position, left foot turned out, right foot slid behind her and pointed. She set one hand on her hip and held the other out in an open first. And then she began to move.

 

She stepped through and out of the classical position, on to a demi-pointe and extending her back leg out in a perfect arabesque. She held her breath as she held the position. Her arms were held out in front of her and she didn’t wobble, she balanced perfectly on her toes. Muscle memory. She slowly bent her knee, moving to an attitude position, before developpèing it forwards to be held out in front of her. She moved her arms to fourth position. 

 

She pushed off her back foot and swung herself forwards into a soubresaut, arms moving as she did in one fluid rush. She landed on one leg, her left this time, and held her back leg out in arabesque again. Plièing her knee, she took a deep breath, before chassè forwards and transitioning into a par de boureè. 

 

She turned to face the corner, developpèing backwards this time. She bent her standing leg into a fondu and held her arms in a fourth arabesque. She straightened up, and stepped through onto demi-pointe, before turning three, neat, piquè pirouettes en dedan in a row. She whipped her head round, spotting on the wall opposite her. She caught sight of herself in the mirror. Her skirt flared out at her hips as she turned, she almost looked like she could have been a dancer, almost.

 

“En Facè” She muttered to herself before turning to face the mirror. She looked down at her feet, and then shifted into fifth position. She counted the beats again, until she got to a point that was the start of a loud swell of music. A crescendo that filled the room, and then she was moving again. 

 

She smiled, moving like fluid, rushing water, she turned, neat balancè en tournant across the room until she reached the other side, she always did like that step. It had always looked good and a lot harder than it actually was. She took a deep breath. With a gallop and a run forwards, she threw herself into a saut de Basque. 

 

She hit the floor with a thud, catching herself on her hands as her knees hit the wooden floor. She gasped. That hurt. The dancing had help her relax, but maybe it hadn’t helped enough.

“I didn’t know that you could dance.” She looked up, flicking loose tendrils of hair out of her eyes.

“Kai.”

“I mean, I did see you dance with Alberich, but you did stand on his foot.” He crossed the room and went to one knee in front of her. “Need a hand.” She took it and allowed him to pull her up.

 

“Can you dance?” She asked him, stepping backwards and dropping his hand. 

“Not like that. Hell, I can’t name a single move that you just did.” 

“How much did you watch?” She asked, running a hand through her hair. 

“I probably missed you warming up.” He said. “Sorry, I heard the music… I didn’t want to interrupt.” His words were rueful and she could see a slight blush in his cheeks. 

“It’s fine.” She said, shaking her head. “I didn’t exactly lock the door.”

 

“When did you learn to dance?” He asked as she crossed the room and turned the music down low to it being barely a whisper. Sh picked up her water bottle and took a swig. 

“School. My parents thought that ballroom would be a useful skill. I always loved ballet though.”

“You’re good.” She blushed and ducked her head. 

“I used to be. You may not have seen, but I did just fall.” 

 

“You’re still good. You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?” 

“No, I should be fine.”

“Good. Now… can you teach me how to dance?” 

“You cant dance? Is that not something that a prince should know for events and such.” She asked, putting her bottle down and tilting her head to the side ever so slightly. 

“I know how to dance. But I can’t dance, if you know what I mean.” He said. “That makes no sense. What I mean is…”

“That you know the steps.” 

“Exactly. I know the steps, and I can go through the motions, but that isn’t dancing. It is just remembering and moving.” 

 

“Alright,” she smiled. “I’ll show you a few things. I am not much of a teacher.”

“You have taught me well so far.”

“And we have nearly died multiple times.” She said, striding into the centre of the room, and holding her hand out, he joined her. “Do you know what makes a piece of music a waltz?”

“It has three counts?”

“And where is the accent?” She queried. 

“Uh… Waltz isn’t spelt with one.” She laughed, she couldn’t help it. Kai looked confused as she stepped back and pressed a hand to her mouth to stop herself. 

 

“In the music Kai. I take it you aren’t much of a musician either?”

“I had lessons when I was younger, I must confess that I paid little to no attention to them.” 

“Alright then… A waltz is a piece of music in three, four. That is three counts to a bar. One. Two. Three.” She counted in time to the music before frowning, and turning the volume back up so that it could be clearly heard. 

“I already knew that.” He said. 

“Yes, but listen closely. It isn’t flat. It isn’t just one, two, three. It’s _one,_ two, three.” She said. 

“So the emphasis is on the first beat?”

“Yes. For a mazurka it is on the second beat. But that is different. It’s eastern, rather than more central European.” Kai nodded, uncertain. 

 

“Anyway. There is a step called a balancè, it’s a classic waltzing step, and in most different choreographies. I was doing one earlier, but turning it.” 

“Which one? I don’t know the names for any of the steps, just what to do.” Kai said. Irene stepped back and neatly demonstrated the steps for him, he nodded. “Right. And you can do that in partners?”

“Yes. One person does it one way and the other reverses. You are a man, you would do it forwards first if you are going horizontally, which you tend to do when turning. Or you would use your right foot first when doing it while turning.” She showed him the same step, turning it. 

 

“And that is a… balancè.” She nodded and gave him a smile. “Can we try that?” 

“I trust that you know how to hold someone when dancing?” She asked.

“I know that much.” He said, almost annoyed, until he saw the joking look in her eyes. He reached forwards and slid an arm around the back of her hips and took her hand in his free one. “Yes. I do.” He said, looking down at her. She tilted her head back to look up at him. 

“This is too close for a waltz.” She took a small step backwards, putting some space between the two of them. “A waltz is meant to be slow and civilised, a chance to get to know someone.”

“And if I want to dance closer?” He asked.

“I can teach you to tango. But later. Baby steps Kai.” She said. 

“A tango sounds much more fun though.”

“You will stand on my foot. And then what will we do? You aren’t exactly light, and I do not like having my toes trodden on.” 

 

“What about a different sort of tango?” He asked, voice low and husky as he leant forwards and dipped his head so that his jaw was nearly against her cheek. 

“Wrong person to ask Kai.” She felt too hot. She could feel her cheeks burning. Her skin itched. 

“Well, what about a… sorry, my French isn’t exactly fantastic. What about a pas de deux?” She blinked, and then smiled. 

“That is exactly what I am trying to teach you right now. So, if you don’t mind?” He sighed. 

“It was worth a shot.”

“Was it? Really?” He shrugged. 

 

He rolled his shoulders back and took a small step backwards. He held himself with the poise of someone who was a superb dancer, even if he said that he wasn’t. He had the grace of one too, moving almost like a fluid, though, she supposed, he did have quite a good control of water and it could have been because of that. 

 

“Slowly first.” She said before counting them in. He took a step forwards, and she took one back, moving with practised ease. Kai’s steps were slow at first, he looked down too. He was almost too careful to avoid stepping on her toes. It was unlike the way he normally moved, it was robotic, unwieldy, unlike the movements of a dancer. She guided them in wide turns as they moved across the room, Kai unwilling to take the lead. 

 

“Breath Kai, you need to relax.” She said, stopping still. “You can’t dance when you are so tense. You move too woodenly.” She could feel how tightly wound the muscles in his back where under her fingertips. She couldn’t blame him for being so tense, she probably was too. He sighed.

“I don’t think I can do that.” He said. 

“Stay here, I will be right back.” She said, thinking up an idea. She came back five minutes later with two shot glasses full of clear liquid. “Drink.” She said, holding one of them out to him. 

“One shot won’t do anything to me.” He said, but he did take it from her. “I can’t even remember how much I had to drink to get drunk that time I did. I don’t remember getting home either.” 

“This is very strong. But won’t get you that drunk.” She said. “Try it.” He looked down at it curiously, before tossing it back.

 

“Gah!” He grimaced. “What the devil was that?” He demanded.

“Moonshine, pretty much as strong as you can get it.” Irene explained. “It is hard to get drunk in the Library, this may not taste great, but it does the job.”

“Is that one for you, or a second for me?”

“Do you think you could drink it?” He shook his head. “I didn’t think so.” She said, before downing it herself. She took his glass and stacked it inside hers, and left them on the side. She restarted the music again and held her hand out to him.

 

Kai took her hand and stood close to her, wrapping his arm around her hips as she put her hand on his. 

“Ready?” She asked, he nodded. “One… Two… Three…” She counted in, and then they moved. It took a few minutes for Kai to begin to feel the alcohol. It spread a warmth through their bodies. He began to relax, his movements became softer. Before long he was spinning her around the room with practised ease. Irene smiled up at him.

 

She had worked alone for so long that she had to slowly learn what it was like to be with others all the time. Like she was teaching Kai how to dance, he was teaching her what it was like to be with people who that she cared about, people who she could trust. People that she could dance with. It had been far too long. 

 

“What are you thinking about?” Kai asked, coming to a slow stop as the music faded out.

“It’s so nice to have someone to dance with. It has been a long time.” 

“Well, if you want to teach me, I will gladly learn. I liked it. You are an excellent dance.” She blushed and ducked her head. 

“You learn quickly.”

“Thank you for teaching me. It’s been a rough few days, it’s nice to see you smile again.”

 

 

 

_ She's walking on rivers _

_ He lifts her above _

_ She's full of belonging _

_ And so full of love _


End file.
